AHMM – Larque Press | The Digest Enthusiast

Interviews December 3, 2019

Alfred Hitchcock June 2016

An excerpt from Michael Bracken’s interview in The Digest Enthusiast No. 8, June 2018:

The Digest Enthusiast: “Chase Your Dreams,” from AHMM (June 2016), is a great example of a story that evokes an emotional response. What prompts you to include social commentary in a story? Do themes emerge while writing, or are they part of the initial planning process?

Michael Bracken: I rarely start with a theme and never intentionally include social commentary because to do so runs the risk of turning a story into a sermon or, worse, a polemic.

When I let characters react to situations I put them in, sometimes themes emerge that represent beliefs different than my own, and it’s important to let the story be the story and not have a theme forced onto it that fits my beliefs. (Think about all the great noir movies ruined by nonsensical happy endings because movie makers didn’t think audiences would tolerate themes like “life sucks and then you die.”)

“Chase Your Dreams” presents a strong example of what happens when you build characters from the inside out. The protagonist is a closeted gay man in small-town Texas and his clandestine lover,a man who is out and proud of it, disappears. The protagonist is torn between searching for his lover and the realization that by doing so he will out himself. The theme emerges from the actions the protagonist takes and how the other characters react to those actions.

Alfred Hitchcock June 2016
Contents Page
Linda Landrigan’s Editor’s Notes: It Takes a Village
The Lineup
Michael Bracken “Chase Your Dreams”
Sarah Weinman “Death of a Feminist” art by Tim Foley
Willie Rose: The Mysterious Cipher (solution on page 93)
Martin Limón “The King of K-Pop”
Arlene Fisher: Dying Words acrostic puzzle
Janice Law “A Taste of Murder” art by Linda Weatherly
Mysterious Photograph: Words Taking Flight
Brendan DuBois “A Battlefield Reunion”
Erica Wright “Patsy Cline at Harry’s Last Chance Saloon” art by Ally Hodges
Ruth Chessman “Poor Sherm” (Mystery Classic selected and introduced by Jane K. Cleland)
Robert C. Hahn: Booked & Printed
—Death On a Starry Night by Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden
—Capitol Punishment by Andrew Welsh-Huggins
—The Day After Death by Lynn C. Miller
The Story that Won (Dec. 2015) “A Better Plan” by Charles R. McCrary, Jr.
Coming in AHMM Jul/Aug 2016
Directory of Services/Indicia
Solution to the May “Dying Words”
Classified Marketplace

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Vol. 61 No. 6 June 2016
Publisher: Peter Kanter
Editor: Linda Landrigan
Senior Assistant Editor: Jackie Sherbow
VP Art & Production: Susan Mangan
Senior AD: Victoria Green
Cover: Chuntisel/iStockphoto
112 pages $4.99
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine website

News November 2, 2019

Alfred Hitchcock Nov/Dec 2019

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Nov/Dec 2019
Contents Page
Linda Landrigan: Trust Me! (introduction)
The Lineup
Leslie Budewitz “Miss Starr’s Good-Bye”
James L. Ross “Last Night in Malibu” art by Ron Chironna
Mark Lagasse: Scrambled George (puzzle, solution on page 70)
Mark Thielman “Thanksgiving Eve”
Janice Law “The Stop-In Motel”
R.T. Lawton “A Loaf of Bread”
Black Orchid Novella Award Contest
Susan Oleksiw “Just Another Runaway”
James Tipton “Candy Box” art by Noah Bailey
John H. Dirckx “Tragedy at Daybreak”
Laurel Flores Fantauzzo: Booked and Printed
—The Bone Fire by S.D. Sykes
—Without a Prayer by Susan Ashline
—Party: A Mystery by Jamaica Kincaid
Dave Zeltserman “Terrible Thoughts”
Deborah Lacy “The Sky’s the Limit” art by Ally Hodges
Mysterious Photograph $25 fiction contest “The Words of the Prophets”
Melissa Yi “Dueling Dojos”
Peter Colt “The Hippie”
Arlene Fisher: Dying Words (acrostic puzzle, solution on page 192)
O’Neil De Noux “A Meanness in Me”
S.L. Franklin “Seal of the Confessional”
Gary Phillips: The Case File Crime in Sequences
The Story That Won (Jul/Aug) “The Angel Tree” by Craig M. Hanson
Index Vol. 64 2019
Coming in AHMM Jan/Feb 2020
Directory of Services/Indicia
Classified Marketplace

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Vol. 64 No. 11 & 12 Nov/Dec 2019
Publisher: Peter Kanter
Editor: Linda Landrigan
Managing Editor: Jackie Sherbow
Senior Director of Art & Production: Porter C. McKinnon
Senior AD: Victoria Green
Cover: Maggie Ivy
192 pages
$7.99 on newsstands until Dec. 17, 2019
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine website

AHMM and EQMM Mystery Value Pack-8 $7.95
AHMM and EQMM Mystery Value Pack-16 $12.95
Mystery Double Issue Value Pack-12 $15.95

Uncategorized September 7, 2019

Alfred Hitchcock Sep/Oct 2019

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Sep/Oct 2019
Contents
Linda Landrigan: Tour de Crime (introduction)
The Lineup
Eve Fisher “The Seven-Day Itch” art by Hank Blaustein
Brian Cox “The Surogate Initiative”
Mark Lagasse: Scrambled Highsmith (puzzle, solution on page 45)
Mysti Berry “Yorkshire Ripper”
David Hagerty “Drinks at the El Navajo” art by Noah Bailey
Mysterious Photograph $25 fiction contest “Tempting, no?”
Emily Devenport “Not My Circus, But They are My Monkeys”
Jim Fusilli “Niall Nelson is on My Flight”
Tom Mead “Incident at Widow’s Perch”
Janice Law “The Island”
Michael Steele Valade “Dead Man’s Hand” art by Tim Foley
Arlene Fisher: Dying Words (acrostic puzzle, solution on page 192)
Meredith Anthony “Eddy Gets His”
Laurel Flores Fantauzzo: Booked and Printed
Angela Zeman “The Second Tales of Roxanne”
Tom Larsen “Alienta Del Diablo” (Wilson Salinas)
Mystery Classic: Selected and Introduced by Marvin Lachman
G.K. Chesterton “The Garden of Smoke” (Mystery Classic)
The Story That Won (May/Jun) “Off the Trail” by Damon Privette
Coming in AHMM Nov/Dec 2019
Directory of Services/Indicia
Classified Marketplace

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Vol. 64 No. 9 & 10 Sep/Oct 2019
Publisher: Peter Kanter
Editor: Linda Landrigan
Associate Editor: Jackie Sherbow
Senior Director of Art & Production: Porter C. McKinnon
Senior AD: Victoria Green
Cover: McMillian Digital Art
192 pages
$7.99 on newsstands until Oct. 22, 2019
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine website

AHMM and EQMM Mystery Value Pack-8 $7.95
AHMM and EQMM Mystery Value Pack-16 $12.95
Mystery Double Issue Value Pack-12 $15.95

Vault July 25, 2019

Alfred Hitchcock Dec. 1966

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 11 No. 12 Dec. 1966
Alfred Hitchcock: Dear Reader
Contents
Max Van Derveer “The Holiday Spirit”
J.A. Mas “The Deadly Handyman”
Lawrence Block “Some Things a Man Must Do”
James N. Semple “Lull in Homicide”
Dan J. Marlowe “The Annuity”
Bob Bristow “The Message”
Mike Brett “Crooks, Satchels, and Selma”
Parley J. Cooper “The Servant Problem”
Carl Henry Rathjen “Jump Job”
Jack Webb “Day of the Tiger”
Robert Edmond Alter “No Place Like Home”
Wenzell Brown “The Blue Man”
Richard O. Lewis “Shakedown”
James McKimmey “The Magic Tree”

Editor: G.F. Foster
160 pages, 50¢

Contents from Galactic Central.

Reviews July 21, 2019

BCMM No. 1’s Classic Reprint

Excerpt from the review of Black Cat Mystery Magazine No. 1 from The Digest Enthusiast No. 7:

“Beside a Flowering Wall” by Fletcher Flora is reprinted from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine April 1968. A spinster is visited by the lost love of her life. “The wonder was that he had [once] loved her, for she had been a plain girl, as she was a plain woman, with an odd faded look as if she had been laundered too many times in boiling water.” The crime here was the loss of what might have been, until the opportunity to erase it forever arose.

Vault July 10, 2019

Alfred Hitchcock May 1966

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 11 No. 5 May 1966
Alfred Hitchcock: Dear Reader (an excerpt) “. . . be King of the Grill, and a Mystery Reading Buff, adn acquire the resolute expression of the gentleman on the cover.”
Contents
Edward D. Hoch “The Rusty Rose”
Robert G. Anderson “Child of the Night”
Frank Sisk “The Sawbuck Machine”
Robert W. Alexander “Over a Barrel”
Ed Lacy “Five Minutes Ago”
Carroll Mayers “The Conspirators”
Robert Edmond Alter “The Shunned House”
F.J. Smith “The Gun Merchant”
Aubrey S. Newman “Community Service”
Ione Ivey “So Tender These Petals”
Dick Ellis “Beware the Righteous Man”
Lawrence E. Orin “The Basement Room”
Geoffrey Knighton “A Matter of Honor”
Joseph Payne Brennan “The Intangible Threat”
Fletcher Flora “The Happenstance Snatch”
Each story includes an illustration by Marguerite Blair Deacon

Editor and Publisher: Richard E. Decker
Managing Editor: G.F. Foster
Associate Editors: Victoria S. Benham, Pat Hitchcock, Ernest Hutter
Art Director: Marguerite Blair Deacon
160 pages, 50¢

News June 24, 2019

Alfred Hitchcock Jul/Aug 2019

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Jul/Aug 2019
Contents
Linda Landrigan: All in the Execution (introduction)
The Lineup
Dave Zeltserman “Lulu and Heartbreaker” (Morris Brick)
R.T. Lawton “The Horse” art by Noah Bailey
Mysterious Photograph $25 fiction contest “Leaf Peeper”
Janice Law “A Fine Nest of Rascals”
John H. Dirckx “Who’s Counting?”
Laurel Flores Fantauzzo: Booked and Printed
B.K. Stevens “The Tourist”
Mark Lagasse: Scrambled Wolfe (puzzle, solution on page 137)
John C. Boland “Marley’s Mistress” art by Ally Hodges
Dayle A. Dermatis “Pirate Pete’s”
Michael A. Black “Carnivores and Herbivores” art by Eric Fisher
William Burton McCormick “The Three Camillas”
Arlene Fisher: Dying Words (acrostic puzzle, solution on page 192)
Paul D. Marks “Past is Prologue”
Mark Bruce “Minerva James and the Goddess of Justice” (Black Orchid Novella Award)
The Story That Won (Mar/Apr) “Seeing is Believing” by L.J. Belle
Coming in AHMM Sep/Oct 2019
Directory of Services/Indicia
Classified Marketplace

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Vol. 64 No. 7 & 8 Jul/Aug 2019
Publisher: Peter Kanter
Editor: Linda Landrigan
Associate Editor: Jackie Sherbow
Senior Director of Art & Production: Porter C. McKinnon
Senior AD: Victoria Green
Cover: Maggie Ivy
192 pages
$7.99 on newsstands until August 20, 2019
Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine website

AHMM and EQMM Mystery Value Pack-8 $7.95
AHMM and EQMM Mystery Value Pack-16 $12.95
Mystery Double Issue Value Pack-12 $15.95

TDE Update June 22, 2019

News, Fiction, and More

The Digest Enthusiast No. 10 pgs 66 & 67

Rounding out the content of the tenth issue of The Digest Enthusiast:

Fantasy fiction from Robert Snashall and Joe Wehrle, Jr., with art by Carolyn Cosgriff.

News updates from the newsstand giants and the digital darlings of today’s genre fiction digests, straight from their editors and publishers.

In-depth reviews of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine May/June 2019 and Broadswords & Blasters No. 9.

Plus over 100 digest magazine cover images, cartoons by Bob Vojtko, art by Brian Buniak, a poem by Clark Dissmeyer, first issue factoids, and more.

The Digest Enthusiast No. 10 June 2019
5.5” x 8.5”
160 pages
$8.99 Print
$2.99 Kindle

Vault June 1, 2019

Alfred Hitchcock April 1966

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 11 No. 4 April 1966
Alfred Hitchcock: Dear Friends “Soon we will once again hear, from spring training camps, the crack of a baseball bat—hopefully, against a ball . . .”
Contents
Richard Hill Wilkinson “Night Clerk”
C.B. Gilford “Don’t Call It Murder”
Virginia Coffman “Spring Thaw”
Lawrence A. Hayner “The Big Diamond Glittered”
Cameron Wills “Personal”
Helen Nielsen “The Master’s Touch”
Steve Wyandotte “An Ill Wind”
Jack Ritchie “Plan 19”
Robert Specht “The Real Thing”
Ed Lacy “The Listening Cone”
Ree Montgomery “Cabin on the Old Dump Road”
Robert Edmond Alter “Haunted Hill”
Vera Henry “Between Trains”
Dan J. Marlowe “Don’t Lose Your Cool”
Richard Hardwick “The Private Eye of Irving Anvil”
Each story includes an illustration by Marguerite Blair Deacon

Editor and Publisher: Richard E. Decker
Managing Editor: G.F. Foster
Associate Editors: Pat Hitchcock, Ernest Hutter, Victoria S. Benham
Art Director: Marguerite Blair Deacon
164 pages, 50¢

Vault May 20, 2019

Alfred Hitchcock June 1964

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Vol. 9 No. 6 June 1964
Alfred Hitchcock: Dear Friends
Contents
Richard Deming “Medicine Woman”
Jack Ritchie “Everybody Except Wilbur”
Leo R. Ellis “Fresh Thuringer Today”
Robert Edmond Alter “Echo of a Savage”
Jay Folb “Hero of the Silver Screen”
Frank Sisk “The Clean Platter”
Carl Henry Rathjen “A Debt to Doc”
Rog Phillips “Legacy of Office”
Carroll Mayers “Until Death Us Do Part”
Thomasina Weber “Judgment Day”
Dick Ellis “Final Performance”
Richard Hardwick “The Dangerous Age”
Jan MacKenzie “Show Me First Your Penny”
Steve O’Connell “Kill the Taste”
Ed Dumonte “Summer Session Only”
Each story includes an illustration by Marguerite Blair Deacon

Editor and Publisher: Richard E. Decker
Managing Editor: G.F. Foster
Associate Editors: Victoria S. Benham, Pat Hitchcock, Ned Benham
Art Director: Marguerite Blair Deacon
164 pages, 50¢